The Ultimate Comparison – iPad Mini vs iPad 2 vs iPad 4

Yesterday was a huge day in terms of tablets and Macs; Apple has completed changed it’s iPad line-up. The iPad is now in it’s 4th generation a little over a half a year after the introduction of the 3rd generation model, and now it even has a young brother to join the crowd. So let’s take a look at three iPads on the market: the iPad Mini, iPad 2, and the iPad with Retina Display.

The iPad line-up is starting to reflect the series of Macs we all know and love. We have the iPad Mini as the ultralight Macbook Air and the iPad 2 as the trusty Macbook Pro; then the ultimate option is the iPad with Retina as the Macbook Pro with Retina.

The iPad Mini is 7.9-inches diagonally with a 1024×768 resolution, which looks fantastic at the smaller size although it is not classified as Retina. It is powered by the dual-core A5 chip to make sure everything stays running smoothly, and you can capture everything you see with the same 5-megapixel camera and HD Facetime camera found on the 4th generation iPad. It will last you 10 hours when using Wifi and up to 9 hours with LTE support, then you can charge up again using the new Lightning connector. The base price for this brand new device will only set you back a cool $329.

Then there is old reliable, the iPad 2. This model has been around for about a year and a half now but is now two generations in the past. It has the same resolution as the iPad Mini at 9.7-inches diagonally and using the same A5 chipset introduced in 2011. It sports an average back camera with a VGA front facing one and is connected by the now outdated 30-pin connector. As for data support, you will have to rely on 3G as others move forward with LTE, but it still maintains an economic price for those wanting a bigger screen at $399 for a 16 GB Wifi model.

Finally, we have the Retina iPad which is now the 4th generation model. It is a somewhat minor update from the 3rd generation model when the 2048×1536 resolution screen was first introduced and the 5-megapixel iSight camera for shooting 1080p HD video. The newer model now supports a 720p HD Facetime camera and is run on the fastest of Apple’s chipsets, the A6X, which is said to double graphic and CPU performance. The update also included using the new Lightning connector to charge this pinnacle of tablet devices.

Which tablet is best suited for you, or will you be waiting for a cheap Android/ Windows RT tablet to fill your post-PC void? Let us know in the comments.